Legendary jazz greats Branford Marsalis and Kurt Elling collaborate for the first time on a full album, Upward Spiral. They ve been talking for a while about making a record together, and finally at the end of 2015 it all came together. They found time to play the new material in the New Orleans Snug Harbor club for four days and then recorded a variety of songs in the studio, all chosen because of their melodic richness and musical quality. Their versions of the chosen material are simply incredible, as the musicality of Branford and Kurt and their deep understanding of these songs shows through immediately.

Curtis Ousley, who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, blues, funk and soul jazz. Curtis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 6, 2000. On Everybody’s Talking, King Curtis is joined by Bernard Purdie, Billy Butler, Cornell Dupree, Billy Preston and the Memphis Horns. This funky effort is highlighted by the hits “If I Were A Carpenter,” “Groove Me” and “Ridin' Thumb.” Everybody’s Talking was one of Billboard’s Top R&B Albums. This is soul-jazz at its best.

Talking Heads’ groundbreaking 1977 debut remains one of the most celebrated releases of the New Wave era. The album featured the breakout hits “Psycho Killer” and "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" and introduced the world to the band’s singular and nervy blend of pointilistic funk, punk, and rock. The album is ranked as one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

Talking Heads’ 1980 masterpiece stands among the most celebrated work of the decade. Largely defined by the ground-breaking recording methods of legendary producer Brian Eno, the music draws from funk, African rhythms, electronic music and rock indiscriminately, making for a startling original and hugely influential sound.

You want to talk about raw power and dynamics, ok let?s do that: TBO has 93 unique samples/recorded notes. We are talking about 31 velocity layers pedal up, 31 pedal down and 31 release samples. Now why on earth does anyone want to produce a sampled piano of this size…?

"Merry Christmas" is a Christmas album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released by Columbia Records in 1965. This, his second holiday LP, is focused exclusively on 20th century compositions, unlike 1963's The Andy Williams Christmas Album, which, of its 12 tracks, had six with origins predating the turn of the century. For the six consecutive holiday seasons from 1965 through 1970, Merry Christmas charted on Billboard magazine's special year-end weekly Christmas Albums sales chart. The album spent two weeks as the number one selling Christmas album during the holiday season of 1966 and one week atop that same chart in 1969.

Coming off an intense and emotionally rough period that surrounded the recording and release of 2013's No Morphine No Lilies, drummer Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom is in upbeat, adventurous form on 2016's Otis Was a Polar Bear. Which isn't to say that she and her bandmates weren't game for adventure on No Morphine No Lilies. On the contrary, the group found its footing on that album born out of a tumultuous year that included Miller taking care of her sick girlfriend, two of her bandmates having babies, and Miller drawing attention, some unfairly negative, for a Huffington Post article she wrote about being a lesbian feminist in the jazz world.

Core and founding members James Lloyd and Curtis Harmon refer to In the Moment as the 20th Pieces of a Dream album. Instead of hosting a guest-filled blowout, they keep it simple with familiar associates, guitarist Rohn Lawrence, saxophonist Tony Watson Jr., and bassist David Dyson. The duo also receive a little assistance from a handful of additional musicians, including Shanachie label stalwart Chris "Big Dog" Davis.

These performances come from the first ever complete set of the Mozart symphonies, dating from the 1960s, and they still represent 'big orchestra' Mozart at its most congenial. The contrast here between Bohm's sparkling Mozart, both elegant and vigorous, and the much smoother view taken by Karajan with the same orchestra, works almost entirely in Bohm's favour. Interpretatively, these are performances very much of their time, with exposition repeats the exception (as in the first movement of No. 40) and with Minuets taken at what now seem lumbering speeds. Yet slow movements flow easily, and finales bounce along infectiously. Consistently they convey the happy ease of Bohm in Mozart, even if the recording is beefy by today's standards, not as transparent as one now expects in this repertory, whether on modern or period instruments.